The present invention relates to a system and method for munition impact assessment. More particularly, the present invention relates to a self guided munition including an impact assessment system, which system transmits a signal pertaining to impact assessment of the munition directly to a platform from which the munition was launched or dropped.
The use of platform launched or dropped munitions in warfare is well known. The use of such munitions has provided a substantial advance in the art of warfare by facilitating the destruction of enemy targets while mitigating undesirable loss of life and/or destruction of military equipment.
However, as those skilled in the art will appreciate, conventional un-guided munitions dropped or launched by, for example, airplanes, must generally either be released with very high accuracy or in very large numbers in order to effectively destroy a desired target. Thus, it is frequently necessary to either drop such munitions from an undesirably low altitude or to fly an undesirably large number of sorties. Dropping conventional munitions from a lower than desirable altitude exposes the aircraft and crew to hazardous anti-aircraft artillery and ground-to-air missiles. The accuracy of such anti-aircraft artillery and ground-to-air missiles is substantially enhanced by the reduced range to target (altitude of the aircraft) provided by such low flight. For this reason, low altitude bombing is extremely dangerous and is very rarely performed. Of course, flying an undesirably large number of sorties is expensive, time consuming, and exposes the aircraft and crew repeatedly to air defense weaponry such as anti-aircraft artillery and ground-to-air missiles.
In an attempt to overcome the deficiencies of conventional munitions in reliably destroying ground targets, particularly when dropped from a high altitude and away in ground distance from the target, smart munitions have been developed. Such smart munitions utilize a guidance and flight control system to accurately maneuver the munition to the desired target. The guidance system provides a control signal to the control surfaces based upon the present position of a munition and the position of the target, so that the control surfaces maneuver the munition toward the target. Such guidance systems operate according to well known principles and typically utilize technologies such as laser guidance, infrared guidance, radar guidance and/or satellite (GPS) guidance.
For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,866,838 to Mayersak describes a low cost and highly accurate guided system suitable for use in conventional aircraft launched bombs. The system includes a kit mounted upon the nose of the conventional bomb which replaces the conventional fuse disposed in a fuse well, the kit including guidance electronics controlling a self-contained jet reaction device and GPS P-code receiver electronics. The bombs are readied for discharge by radio frequency signals broadcast from the aircraft into the bomb bay which transfer initial GPS data and commence operation of a gas generator which powers the jet reaction device.
Such smart munitions can be either self guided, wherein a bomb or a missile is launched and self guides to the target, or alternatively such smart bombs can be guided or monitored by an operator, in which case the operator ensures and/or verifies that the bomb has detonated on target.
An inherent limitation to self guided smart bombs is the inability to verify if the bomb detonated with precision on target. Thus, an aircraft pilot launching a self guided smart bomb cannot verify successful impact other than by flying over the target, thus risking the aircraft to anti aircraft fire.
To overcome this limitation, smart self guided bomb systems have been devised by which a likely detonation coordinate signal is relayed from the smart bomb to a tracking station just prior to detonation. Such a signal is then processed by the tracking station and compared to the intended target coordinate to yield accuracy results.
Since the presence of a tracking station is required in order to monitor and interpret a bombing run, real-time analysis of the results cannot be enabled, and as such these systems are typically used only to verify success and not to adjust additional bombing runs of a sortie according to detonation results of a previous bombing run.
There is thus a widely recognized need for, and it would be highly advantageous to have, an impact verification system for self guided smart bombs which system can transmit a signal relating to impact success or failure of a self guided smart bomb, directly to a platform from which the smart bomb was launched or dropped.
According to one aspect of the present invention there is provided a platform launched or dropped self guided munition comprising a body and flight control mechanism operative therewith, the body housing (a) an onboard guidance system for controlling the flight control mechanism, so as to guide the self guided munition to a target; and (b) an impact verification assembly including (i) a processing unit for receiving and processing information from the onboard guidance system, the information pertaining to an in-flight trajectory position of the self guided munition prior to impact, the processing unit further being for generating a signal including information pertaining to an accuracy, with respect to the target, of the in-flight trajectory position of the self guided munition prior to impact; and (ii) a transmitter being in communication with the processing unit, the transmitter being for transmitting the signal generated by the processing unit in a manner receivable by a receiving device of the platform.
According to another aspect of the present invention there is provided a system for determining the impact success of a self guided munition which is launched or dropped from a platform, the system comprising an impact verification assembly being integrateable into the self guided munition, the impact verification assembly including (a) a processing unit for receiving and processing information from an onboard guidance system of the self guided munition, the information pertaining to an in-flight trajectory position of the self guided munition prior to impact, the processing unit further being for generating a signal including information pertaining to an accuracy of the in-flight trajectory position of the self guided munition prior to impact with respect to a target; and (b) a transmitter being in communication with the processing unit, the transmitter being for transmitting the signal generated by the processing unit in a manner receivable by a receiving device of the platform.
According to yet another aspect of the present invention there is provided a method of determining the impact success of a self guided munition which is launched or dropped from a platform, the method comprising the steps of (a) integrating an impact verification assembly to the self guided munition, the impact verification assembly including (i) a processing unit being for receiving and processing information from an inboard guidance system of the self guided munition, the information pertaining to an in-flight trajectory position of the self guided munition prior to impact, the processing unit further being for generating a signal including information pertaining to an accuracy of the in-flight trajectory position of the self guided munition prior to impact; and (ii) a transmitter being in communication with the processing unit, the transmitter being for transmitting the signal generated by the processing unit in a manner receivable by a receiving device of the platform; and (b) receiving via the receiving device of the platform the signal generated by the processing unit and transmitted by the transmitter so as to determine the accuracy of the in-flight trajectory position of the self guided munition prior to impact, thus determining the impact success of the self guided munition.
According to still another aspect of the present invention there is provided a method of determining the impact success of a self guided munition which is launched or dropped from a platform, the method comprising the steps of (a) processing information generated by an onboard guidance system of the self guided munition, the information pertaining to an in-flight trajectory position of the self guided munition prior to impact; (b) generating a signal including information pertaining to an accuracy, with respect to a target, of the in-flight trajectory position of the self guided munition prior to impact; and (c) transmitting the signal generated by the processing unit in a manner receivable by a receiving device of the platform so as to enable to determine the impact success of the self guided munition.
According to further features in preferred embodiments of the invention described below, the signal including information pertaining to an accuracy, with respect to the target, of the in-flight trajectory position of the self guided munition prior to impact includes information indicating an impact success or an impact failure of the self guided munition.
According to still further features in the described preferred embodiments the signal is a radiofrequency signal and further wherein the receiving device of the platform is a radiofrequency receiver.
According to still further features in the described preferred embodiments the radiofrequency receiver is inherent to a radio communication system of the platform.
According to still further features in the described preferred embodiments the radiofrequency signal is an ultra high frequency radio signal of between 200 megahertz and 400 megahertz.
According to still further features in the described preferred embodiments the radiofrequency signal is translatable into audio information.
According to still further features in the described preferred embodiments the audio information includes uttered words.
According to still further features in the described preferred embodiments in a case where the impact success of more than one of the self guided munition is to be co-assessed, the signal generated and transmitted by the impact verification assembly of each self guided munition also includes information uniquely identifying each self guided munition.
According to still further features in the described preferred embodiments the information uniquely identifying each self guided munition is transmitted as a radiofrequency signal and further wherein the receiving device of the platform is a radio frequency receiver.
According to still further features in the described preferred embodiments the radio frequency signal is translatable into audio information.
According to still further features in the described preferred embodiments the audio information includes uttered words.
According to still further features in the described preferred embodiments the uttered words include words of the international alphabet of radio communication.
According to still further features in the described preferred embodiments the signal generated and transmitted by the impact verification assembly of each self guided munition is randomly transmitted a plurality of times over a time window.
According to still further features in the described preferred embodiments the self guided munition further comprising a propulsion section including an engine and a such the self guided munition is self propelled.
According to still further features in the described preferred embodiments the platform is selected from the group consisting of an airplane, a helicopter, a ship, a ground vehicle and a personal self guided munition platform.
According to still further features in the described preferred embodiments the platform is an airplane.
According to still further features in the described preferred embodiments the platform launched or dropped self guided munition further comprising attachment elements positioned on an outer surface of the body, the attachment elements serve for attaching the self guided munition to the platform.
According to still further features in the described preferred embodiments the impact verification assembly further includes a power supply for powering the processing unit and the transmitter.
According to still further features in the described preferred embodiments the impact verification assembly includes an interface for connecting to a power supply of the self guided munition.
According to still further features in the described preferred embodiments the information pertaining to the in-flight trajectory position of the self guided munition includes a position and orientation of the self guided munition with respect to a location of the target.
According to still further features in the described preferred embodiments the target is selected from the group consisting of a stationary target and a moving target.
According to still further features in the described preferred embodiments the transmitter transmits the signal generated by the processing at any time point within a minute prior to impact.
The present invention successfully addresses the shortcomings of the presently known configurations by providing a self guided munition including an impact verification assembly which enables the operator of a platform from which the munition was dropped or launched to determine, in real time, an impact success or failure of the munition. The present invention further successfully addresses the shortcomings of the presently known configurations by being readily incorporable and deployable by existing platforms without necessitating additional platform mounted hardware or extensive operator training.